5/5/2025 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) — You would think it’s hard to overlook the religious motivation of a massacre when the victims are all Christian and the massacre takes place on Christmas, Palm Sunday, or Easter.  

But many people who work in media have proven themselves almost uncannily adept at avoiding the religious motivation behind such violence.  

It’s worth looking at specific excerpts that show exactly how media outlets get around the politically inconvenient reality of Nigerian Christians being hunted down on an ongoing basis.  

One recent example surfaced when more than 50 Nigerian Christians were murdered in one attack on Palm Sunday, April 13. France’s leading newspaper, Le Monde, soon after ran an article mentioning that the attack took place on a Sunday, but neglected to mention that it was Palm Sunday. This factual detail would show a clear religious motivation. Is that why it was omitted?  

Christmas Day 2024 saw dozens of Nigerian Christians slaughtered. But Christmas 2023 was even more lethal, as a series of attacks murdered and maimed hundreds. CNN ran an article on the subject, but did not mention Christmas or the religion of the victims.  

The German media giant Deutsche Welle published an article on the date of Dec. 25, 2023, but also failed to mention anything about Christmas or how the victims were Christians.  

The Guardian, a major U.K.-based media company, also ran an article on Dec. 25 but neglected to mention Christmas or the religion of the victims. Instead, the article mentioned “competition for natural resources” aggravated by “climate pressures” — also known as climate change or global warming. These “climate” issues in Nigeria are often invoked by media venues seeking to avoid the religious aspect of violence.  

After a June 2022 massacre inside a Catholic church in Nigeria, the local Catholic bishop remarked, “40 of my people were not killed because of global warming, but because they were Christians.” 

Even though this particular act of mayhem took place inside a church, NPR made sure their African correspondent didn’t say too much about religion. So the content was largely kept at: “But now this community is also one of those that has been caught up in Nigeria’s pastoral conflict that has been plaguing the country for many years.” 

It might be worth pointing out that if basically all the violence is perpetrated by one side, then it’s not so much a “conflict” as it is an ongoing violation.  

One Nigerian priest, exasperated by the media’s misleading descriptions, tried to set the record straight: “It is not a clash, it is a slow genocide.” 

As for the BBC’s coverage of the church massacre, they said, “Nigeria is facing worsening violence by armed groups.” 

Notice how there is no specification here as to what type of “armed groups” are behind the “worsening violence.” The description of “armed groups” is so vague that it serves no purpose — unless vagueness is the objective.  

The media’s avoidance of religious motivations behind violence in Nigeria is not a new phenomenon. About a week after a series of Christmas Day 2011 church bombings in Nigeria, The New York Times ran an op-ed titled, “In Nigeria, Boko Haram is Not the Problem.” 

This curious op-ed, which probably deserved a Nobel Prize for misplaced sensitivity, warned us not to demonize Boko Haram and partake in “a rush to judgment that obscures Nigeria’s complex reality.” It then urged the U.S. government not to place Boko Haram on the “foreign terrorist list” because doing so could “make more Nigerians fear and distrust America.” 

Emmanuel, a Christian from heavily Muslim northeastern Nigeria, told this correspondent that many people around him “don’t believe Christians are normal humans, but pigs and pagans.” Some places in Emmanuel’s region are so dangerous that, if he needs or wants to visit his state capital, he must travel in a roundabout way that includes entering a different state. If he takes the more direct route, there is a huge chance that he “will be slaughtered like an animal,” he said. “There are some boundaries we dare not cross.” 

Emmanuel feels that many media venues choose to ignore the religious aspects of the violence in Nigeria. Nor can he expect that Nigerian Christians will receive much help from their own government.  

Nigeria’s current president, Bola Tinubu, is a Muslim, as is the current vice president, Kashim Shettima. The previous president, Muhammadu Buhari, is the son of a Fulani chieftain. This made him a rather unlikely candidate to crack down on persistent Fulani violence that has reportedly become the most severe threat to Nigerian Christians. 

For decades now, wealthy Fulanis have supplied their fellow militant tribesmen with AK-47 assault rifles and other weaponry. Many Nigerian Christians view this continued endeavor as part of an overall effort to expand Islamist rule across Nigeria. 

A Religion News Service article from April mentions that many Nigerians are afraid to go to church on Easter. These Nigerian Christians understand their nation’s “pastoral conflict” has a way of asserting itself on Christian holy days.  

Here’s an excerpt from that same article, which describes what is happening in Nigeria: “Fulani extremists in particular are increasingly targeting Christian farmers to take over their land and livestock. In their quest to establish an Islamic caliphate, the extremists also intimidate Christians, demanding they convert to Islam or face death.” 

Notice how the above excerpt dares to mention the recurring perpetrators, their religion, and their view of Christians.  

With virtually no chance of facing justice, these perpetrators and their views will be staying around for quite some time. It’s a safe bet that right now, some of them are planning their next attack on Christian victims.  

And it’s an equally safe bet that, if the attack has a large enough death toll, members of prominent media outlets will set to work on their next article or broadcast. They will use the acceptable buzzwords about farmer-herder tensions, violence due to climate change, armed bandits — anything to obscure the religion of perpetrator and victim. 

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